Young fans try to get mascott B.B. the Bluefish's attention to throw them a T-shirt during Bluefish game action against the Sugar Land Skeeters at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn. on Wednesday September 4, 2013.

BRIDGEPORT -- In the grand scheme of things, last season for the Bridgeport Bluefish -- on the field, that is -- was a disaster.

The team struggled throughout both halves of the schedule, finishing 31 games under .500, the worst record in its 16-year history. But off the field was an entirely different story.

Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and group sales drive, the Bluefish posted a solid 8.4 percent increase in attendance, jumping from 132,139 in 2012 to 157,267 last season, its best attendance total since 2010. If the organization can continue to sell the team to Fairfield County and the surrounding community, general manager Ken Shepard can hope to see those numbers rise even more in 2014.

"I think a lot of that was just being more active in the community and being more aggressive with group sales," Shepard said about the greater attendance last season. "What we decided is that we want to continue what's working well, so we've hired three new people specifically to do group sales. It's just a matter of becoming more relevant with the people in the community. The people in the community have a very positive image of the team and a very positive reflection on the experience when they come out, so it's just a matter of getting these people out more."

Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., weather permitting, the Bluefish will host their Atlantic League home opener against the Sugar Land Skeeters at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard. The Fish are coming off a 54-85 season, just their sixth losing campaign since Bridgeport's inception in 1998, but their sixth losing season in the past nine years. And while manager Willie Upshaw claims he's "excited" about this year's squad, a team that has 14 players with previous major league experience, it remains to be seen if the Bluefish (1-3) will contend for the Liberty Division title.

So, to get fans to the ballpark, and keep them coming back, Shepard and Co. have continued to try to make the overall experience as positive as possible with several nightly events.

"We are going to do the `Feed Your Face' Monday, the $19.99 all-you-can-eat-from-the-seat night, again," Shepard said. "We'll do the Kids Eat Free Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday and the Sunday Family Fun Day. And we're also going to do a 2-for-1 box seat admission special on Tuesdays."

And while box seat prices were raised 50 cents to $14, all other ticket prices have been lowered, according to Shepard. In addition, the team is offering special childrens' and seniors' ticket prices.

"Our new season ticket sales as compared to last year are also up significantly," Shepard said. "We ran a program through Feb. 15 that if you bought tickets and paid for them by the 15th, we offered a (season) box seat for $500, a savings of $270. When people did that, they had to make a three-year commitment, but a lot of them did, so we're excited about that."

The team also instituted an "Adopt a Suite" campaign, giving a company a chance to purchase one of 20 luxury suites at a reduced price, fix it up to their own design and then resell it and pocket the profits.

"As long as we keep increasing (attendance), that's a positive," Shepard said. "We've put some numbers to the budget, which are aggressive, but we're hoping to have similar type increases or do even better than we did last year."

To do that, the Bluefish have become more involved in the community. During the off-season, the team hosted a Hot Stove banquet with former New York Mets infielder Howard Johnson, held an event at the Two Roads brewing facility in Stratford with Buddy Harrelson and was part of a March Madness event. The team has also worked with the regional schools, increasing its reading club from 33 to 54 schools.

"We're pleased with what we've done but we have a lot more to do," Shepard said.

There will be eight fireworks nights this season, and one interesting promotion will be the P.C. Richard billboard in left field where fans can become "velcroed" to the board in an effort to win a $10,000 shopping spree. The team is also going to build the Home Depot "Man Cave" -- a 16-foot by 28-foot deck-like structure -- down the left-field line and have that available by June 1.